Not again!!! :-(

This is not happening!
I did remember a comment on the blog post about this, and I was certain that was the end of it.
Boy, was I wrong. So wrong.

It's been a couple of weeks since the first assignment. Studying after that has been tiring. I haven't been able to log into the University website because I have been super busy at work and at home.
We're also being appraised on the number of times we log into the University website per week, and click on the topics tab. You could equate that to the attendance of about 15% to the final module score. The moment I remembered that, I decided to log in and 'do eye service.' I really didn't feel like reading anything. Lately, I really don't feel like doing anything. I just want to stay in bed all day watching Africa Magic Yoruba. Yes, sue me! :-)

Anyway, I did log into the University website and got an email notification. Can you guess who it was from? No, not my Tutor (though he has been sending quite a number of emails lately). No, not that oversabi Kenyan student (mtchewwwwww :-(  I'll tell you all about her in my next blog post).

Yes, yes. It's 'Mr hello my darling.' And suddenly my day took on a sad, epic quality.
What does this guy want??? Besides being a blog post material, what does he want? Wetin? Na only me be Nigerian for the class? 
I was super tempted to click the delete button and move on with my oju aiye series, but on second thought, I decided to read it.

'Helo again. Hw iz d courz? i hope u've done ur asignment.
It was a challenge 4 mi 2 rich d 3,000 words, buh i try my best n did it.
Plz, i nid ur asitance wit smeting very important. i am payin my sch fees every mnth n i am due 4 dis mnth. which is 245 euros. Plz if u cn asit mi wit it. i wil pay u bck whn salary is paid. Plz. thx. hope 2 hear 4rm u.'

Two things:

1. Was it written in English? Call me old fashioned, but I totally do not understand this present day shorthand or shortened English. If you can type buh why can't you type but? If you can type kk (how is that even pronounced sef?), why can't you type Ok? They're both two letter words! There is nothing shorthand or shortened about it. It's not as though you're paying rent for typing space. What's with u instead of you, 4rm instead of from?
I was chatting with someone recently on BBM, and she kept on with this shorthand typing that I developed a headache trying to decipher what she was talking about. It was as though I was reading my 4 year old's handwriting upside down. I had to ask her to please type in English as I couldn't make out what she was typing. :-)
It's so bad that you see an official email correspondence all in this shorthand and just wonder what the future holds for our children. Do you think it's hip or cool?

2. This borrow money issue.  As a principle, I don't lend money to friends. Before you give me virtual bad eye, please, let me explain. I'm not a Bank, so I don't lend money. (And I try not to borrow too. I live within my means. What I can't have, I turn to prayer point) If a friend needs to borrow N100K and comes to me, I will dash (not borrow o) the friend N50K, let him/her sort out the rest elsewhere. This is because I have had terrible experiences with lending money to friends. Friendships have been ruined over this, as they will collect and suddenly forget to return it. And I don't know how to ask for my money back, because I expect the friend to be responsible enough to return what was borrowed. But that is how they will forget, that's how they will still come again, and that's how I will be twice shy and will not give again, and that's how they will vex and delete me on BBM. :-) LOL! Chai! This life is so interesting.

So tell me, what has been your experiences with this 'abeg borrow me that N200K that you're not using' matter?
This our 'friend', Mr hello my darling, do you think I should assist him?
All this shorthand typing, what's your take?

Please let me know what you think in the comment section.

Till next week Sunday (God willing)...

Assignment 1.

3,000 words ( +/- 10% = 2,700 - 3300 words)??? Seriously???

I had dreaded this. Assignment deadline week.

As you already know, I'm on the Organizations and HR Management module, and the first assignment is due on Sunday.
The assignment is about comparing the functions of strategic human resource management in two countries (mine and another). But why do I have to do that in 3,000 words? A 150 or less is just fine!
I can't sustain a prose for that long, Little wonder my blog post are pretty short...straight to the point.

It pretty much reminds me of the testimony sessions in my church. Don't get it wrong, I'm all for testifying that you slept on Saturday night and woke up on Sunday morning. Believe me it's a huge deal and a miracle, as life, a gift, some say is short, and life in Lagos, others say is shorter. But coming forward to testify in a time constrained service (as you've got lots of people, waiting to testify), taking 35 minutes to dance around the topic of having a pimple and telling us that on Sunday morning the pimple had disappeared...No. Have you been in such situations?

After reciting Philipians 4:13 for about 150 times, I eventually summoned the courage to begin the assignment on Friday with a deadline submission on Sunday.
Mistake. Big mistake.
I couldn't get pass 135 words on Friday. I tried really hard, didn't sleep a wink the whole of Friday, but the best I could get to on Saturday morning was 161. At this point depression was silently creeping in. How would I hit 3,000 words in less than 24 hours? Or should I just type:

Strategic Human Resource Management is at it's infancy stage innnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Africa.

That would get me to 3,000 words in no time. Right?

I quickly called a dear friend living close by...didn't have the nerve to drive to her place. I was restless, antsy and everything curdled in lethargy. I took a bike and was in her home in no time. She had been in my shoes years ago and knew exactly how frustrated I had been . She was super generous with her ideas and advise...a glimmer of hope. But it was short-lived as the second I got home, all super-charged to get back to the paper, I experienced a writer's block.
I sincerely couldn't type another word. I couldn't think. I struggled to 1,313 words and THAT WAS IT. FULL STOP.
My head was banging, heart palpitating. I needed help.

I remembered Mr Hubby was super smooth hours before, talking about love in action...those words pleased me like an unnecessary lavish gift. So I asked Mr Hubby;

'How about putting all this ya love to action? Oya, come and help me cross all the T's and dot all the I's. I can't think anymore amd my head is aching.' 

'Eheya. Sorry o. Just that?' He asked.

'Just that.' I said.

Mr Hubby swung into action at 6pm. He didn't look away from the laptop until way past midnight! Over 6 whole hours! He also tried to stay up till 4am when I finally submitted the paper.
You know, besides going straight to my mum, years ago to ask for my hand in marriage (without asking me first...no time), this, over 6 whole hours editing my paper? is one of the many coolest things from Mr Hubby. :-)

And yes! At 4am on Sunday morning, I finally submitted my first assignmemt with 2,702 words.
I assure you, at that time of the morning, deprived of sleep, they were sensible words.

Till next week Sunday (God willing)...Family, Friends...they're everything.

HR and Plagiarism.

It has got to be 'HR = Human Retirement' not Human Resources. The course just makes you want to retire from the human race.

So, like you already know, I have progressed directly to the main MBA Programme after the Foundation course. The first module is Organizations and HR Management. It's about a comprehensive review of essential personnel management concepts and techniques, focusing on practical applications that all managers need to deal with their HR related responsibilities.
The course focuses with specific explanations and illustrations on essential HR management topics like job analysis, selection and recruitment, testing, training and development, compensation and performance appraisal.

All of that sounds pretty interesting right? WRONG! It is super boring! How students study an MSc or an MA in HR or IHRM (International Human Resource Management) and not attempt to take a rope and hang themselves in the process beats me.
The videos and sub-topics on recruitment, compensation and performance appraisal was ok for obvious reasons...but everything else is just bland. Don't get it wrong, it's not about the Tutor (A new Tutor per new module - This one has been great by the way) and how the course was presented...it is the course itself.  It was just a struggle. I dreaded opening a page every day...I eventually feel dizzy each time I do. I open the first page, I read...and like cotton candy, it so easily evaporated from my tongue's memory. I feel as though my brain is constantly engaged in weightlifting with each page.

To make matters even more complicated, I had to download a reading material...several pages, and all I read about had nothing to do with HR or a specific Organization. It was more about the emergence of Bitcoin, a digital currency in an economy. Hian! Oooooo! Which one is this one again???
I had to send an email to the Tutor because I was certain I had downloaded the wrong reading material, and had wasted 2 hours of my time reading it.
The response from the Tutor gave me an instant migraine. He did say I downloaded the right reading material, and I was on course. I wanted to send another email, asking what the emergence of digital currency had to do with HR...but felt watching Africa Magic Hausa (on DSTV) at this point would best heal the ache in my head.

All of this would have been a walk in the park if Plagiarism isn't just an issue in other places of the world besides Nigeria (Someone once said 'Nigeria has no moral compass when it comes to Plagiarism'...do you agree?). All I'll have to do when given an assignment deadline is copy and paste someone else's work without giving credit and pass it of as mine and score 98% abi? (Shake my head) Not here. Academic Integrity is KEY.
It reminded me of my final year at the University when I was struggling with the first chapter of my thesis, and a friend who was a Communication and Language Arts major was already done with her thesis in the first week of it's opening!
She was gracious enough to hand me a copy to read. On opening the first page where you dedicate the success of the thesis to someone or some inspiration...let me pause here... (Sips zobo from my mickey mouse branded mug)...I just remembered a former room mate back then at the University, who wrote on her thesis dedication page:

'This project is dedicated to my one and only true love, the wind beneath my wings, the only one that believed in me, that this day would come...Afe so no mi, Ayomide xxxxxxxx I love you. This is to us. Now and Forever.'

Odiegwu! The things we do for love. I thought it was silly at the time. Little wonder, 6 months later, the Bobo - Ayomide was engaged to be married to someone else. Choi! :-)

Back to the Communication and Language Arts major...I noticed on the dedication page that she dedicated the thesis to her late mum. Late mum? (Shocked) She had only just returned from Lagos a few days before, and showed me the 'janded' wrist watch her mum gave to her. How could her mum have passed on and she has been 'balling' since she arrived?
Well, apparently, her mum is still alive and well...till this day (I had with a strenuous loyalty, kept in touch through the years...thanks to social media), she only used someone's thesis written way back in 1990, took it to the printers; all they did was change the name, course, matriculation number and the cover (from black to green), and she passed it off as her's. It was the mum of the writer of the original work that had died...not her's. She didn't have the patience to edit that and she got 83% for that thesis.
Life!

Plagiarism is not handled lightly in other parts of the world. The student could fail that course or would be expelled from the University. There is a software called Turnitin that assists in ensuring you're not a literary thief in the making. When you're done with an assignment, it's best you pass it through Turnitin, as it detect similarities in your work with other writers. A high similarity, say 50%...that one is a literary thief o! 10% is not suspicious due to references and quotes.
They're not saying can't use other people's work, they're saying when you do (to the barest minimum though, as they would want you to think and write your own ideas and thoughts about a subject matter), give credit, reference correctly with quotation marks etc.

Universities in Nigeria and Plagiarism...what do you think? For your first degree, how did you go about your final thesis? You plagiarized anyhow abi? 'Copy and paste tinz?' :-)

Any HR majors in the house? How did you cope with the course o! This module wants to strangle me. Help oooo!!!!

Let's share ideas and talk all about it in the comment section!!!

Till next week Sunday (God willing)...the more we share...the more we have.

STUDY. TO. SHOW.

And tombo, tombo, laced with prayers, panned out really well! :-)

Economics - 98%
Accounting - 76%
Statistics and Research - 90%

Amazing, right?

To be fair to my brain, it wasn't an exclusive tombo, tombo affair. I knew the answers to most of the questions. But there were some, that even if it were an open book exam, with the answers staring at me right in the face, I go still fail am.

But how the cumulative grade became 65% still remains a mystery to me. :-(
Of course, a student is encouraged to challenge the grades with the Tutor, nothing like what we have here. Dare to, and you will carry over that course/module till rapture takes place.

Well, I have decided not to call for my scripts. Or should I? What if I'm given another assessment? Ain't nobody got time for that biko. Let me just carry my score and go jeje...allow sleeping dogs to continue sleeping, abi to lie?

That Bible verse just kept ringing in my head all week.

Study. To. Show.

It's about time I show my employers that I have been developing myself na. How can I show my boss that value is being added? Just like some people that will travel to Dubai for a week and come back with an American accent, filled with holes, mangling words until they were impossible to understand. I just have to Show. :-)

The perfect opportunity presented itself sooner than I thought.

We had a strategic Skype meeting, where we had to forecast figures for 2016. Before my opinion was required, yours truly blurted out a number of strategic jargons...yes, I know there is something immodest about my modesty, right? It simply just announces itself. :-)

'This is a reactor business strategy...slow to move, even resistant to the idea that there is a need to move, because reactors are captives of their own successes...'
 
I honestly can't remember most of the things I said sef, but towards the end of the meeting, my boss remarked;

'That was spot on Ada. Absolutely brilliant'.

I didn't waste time...I had to sell my market fast;

'All thanks to the MBA Online degree I just started'...I said.

'Oh...an MBA? Someone has got something up her sleeves...you've got plans Ada'? He asked.

The appropriate response to that question would have been, before nko? Instead, I just smiled back.
That kind of smile that says 'I hope my pay would be reviewed upwards before the end of 2015'?

Till next week Sunday (God willing) ...Live (not merely exist) everyday of your life.